A Legend this wagon
with four horses, that transported the marriage portion of Adele
San Galli from St. Petersburg to Berlin. My grand-grandmother
came from a family with legendery wealth and, as I know by now,
european history and european size.

Ancestor of "my"
San Galli was the sculpturer Carlo Baldassare Innocentio Sangalli,
* 1755 in Pavia (Capital of Lombardy, somewhat south
of Milano. 1788 as Austrian souldier he took part in the war
of bavarien succession, that got well known as "potatoe
war". In this conflict both Prussia and Austria had massive
problems supplying their armies, the troups of both contries
marched to and fro without any considerabel fighting in Bohemia
(western part of Czechia) and struggeld with each other to get
some potatoes out of the acres.

Of couse, the Austrians remembered
more the big pain they got in their stomachs; they called this
conflict plum biting ...

You may like
it well: the beauty of Pavia >

When I concider this it seems
a pretty mystery to me how my brave ancestor was able to fall
in Prussian hand between the invasion of the Prussians in Bohemia
on 5. Juli and the end of 1788 - but at least he got not killed
by a disease, like 1500
soldiers of both sides.

To me it seemes clear Baldassare
had not got an impression too bad from his soldiers life, as
he decidet to serve as Prussian soldier and after some years
established himself as
sculptorer in Stettin (Pomerania). Known as part of his work
are only a very considerable upper part of an altar and the organ
in the church of Kremzow in the region of Pyritz (eastern Pomerania,
today only its shell still exists). By the way descendant of
him with the name San Galli now live in France near Paris - their
ancestors fled from the communists in Russia; I´ve visiteted
them there in 1993.

Balthasar and his son Carl
Sangalli were living in Pomerania, right on the linked map. The
little white point on the right downside shows Kremzow, where
he organ and upper part of the altar made by Balthasar Sangalli
can be admired even today. The map shows Stettin, over it Wollin,
even more high Cammin (bosth at the eastern exit of the haff-bay).
Just look here.

The
right, considerable upper part of the altar from1799 shows "in
his middle part painted with oil shows the resurrection of Christ,
above the prophet Jonas spit to land by the whale, at the top
two angels".

I´m
sorry I could get only a picture of the empty outside of the
organ, but I think, the wood-work over it should be made by Balthasar
Sangalli too - working with wood and "laque" were his
speciality.

Balthasar Sangalli, like the
name was mostly written at that time, was the first who made
the family important. It is not known if a connection to the
well known family of artists Sangallo does exist; even more uncertain
is their descendence of te last french Valois-queen Margarethe
(1553 - 1615), that I think is believed to be true since quite
a long time by a number of members of our family.

Our ancestor now served in
the Prussian army in the region of the Neumark - he believed
that his chef von Möllendorf treated him exelently well,
but got really ill in 1784 and 1785 left the prussian army. He
wrote: "My decision was made, to stay in Prussia and not
to return to Pavia, and for this reason I established my self
here." Shortly after that he must have married and had two
sons in 1799, one 11 years old. After the dead of his wife he
married once more.

It is a shame only one of
the certainly numerous works of him are known today ("very
considerable" upper part of an altar and organ in Kremzow;
do exist, the organ damaged.) Karl Rittershausen, autor of the
newspaper "Unser Pommerland" wrote 7. 11. 1933 to San
Galli´s descandant lady v. Bismarck:

"As I had begun to
get somewhat interested into the scupturer Sangalli I have collected
some facts I found in a big collection of documents about the
monument of Frederic the great in Stettin. It showed that Sangalli
was consulted often when the monument was to be repaired. I wrote
together quite a lot of facts that could give us a clearer view
on his live." After first all Pomerania east of the Oder,
then Stettin too was robbed away its not sure if we can still
get to these informations.

His son Johann Carl Carl (Karl)
as young as 19 years joined the hussars- regiment and Freicorps
von Schill and in it fought since 1806 only half legally before
Prussia entered into the wars af liberation against Napoleon.
Possibly he even participated in the fights at Kol- berg, that
the nazis made subject of a film as their reich fadet.

later Karl Sangalli fought
as West Prussian Ulan (lance rider) >

Karl Sangally surely fought
many dangerous fights.
After the Freicorpswas dismissed 1807 he served "treu und rechtschaffen" (Brigadier
v. Massenbach) as non commissioned officer in the West- prussian
Ulanenregiment (lance riders), but soon had to take his leave
because of a disease. Shortly before he left the Prussian army
his former guerilla-boss v. Schill had been killed in may in
Stargard. Carl Sangalli gets royal taxofficer instead, and later
controller of border in Stettin, Wollin and Kammin. He is a tallgrown,
taciturn and lean man with o roman looking nose, black eyes and
hair. He made his children do sports and tought them riding.

His wife Henriette from the
old pommeranien family Lübcke was hardworking, strict to
herself and others and had consequent principles won by the experience
of her life. Their sons learned to ride, to fence and gymnastics.
When his son Franz was 17 Karl San Galli died. Franz settled
in St. Petersburg and there after some years built up an enterprise
of industry that finally sold its products to the whole world.
Even during he still built up his enterprise to support himself
he let follow his brother Robert, my grand-grand-grandfather,
who when he was an old man was put to misery by the russian revolution.

Lookin back to is youth Franz
sayed: "Even now I can not understand how young people can
keep back themselves when their blood begins to boil and every
moment they got the possibility to quiten their thirst of love.
My advise: Keep clean and abstinent if its possible; but you
may wish it but your body´s too week, and if you had to
give up: enjoy and be thankfull, but you must know: respice finem!"
(Think of the consequences too.) Like this the owner of a very
big factory withe excellent realations to the monarch.

The St. Petersburg
factory runner Franz Karlowitsch San Galli (left) made his brother
Robert (right) follow him - the doughter of his brother and the
spouse of him, Sophie, later married Ernst Gruner, who was among
the founders and finally president of the Versicherungsaufsichtsamt
(supervision of securances) in Berlin und became my grand-grandmother
like this.

On the left Franz San Galli
hunting, centrally "his wife", (I do hope that of Franz
and not that of Robert), to the picture on the right side I red
Robert San Galli - suddenly without hair and in a different position,
if its true I think with his wife (watch her portrait above)

Franz San Galli had settled
down with family and factory in the Ligovka - quarter near the
center of St. Petersburg. Here his estate (Ligovsky) Prospekt
62. At the left the house to live im next to the park, at the
right side the former office building.

These images show parts of the
estate of my grand-grand-granduncle Franz Karl, later Karlowitsch
San Galli, son of an officer in the wars of liberation, who 19
years old got enga- ged 1843 by a merchand in St. Peterburg and
emigrated there. After some time there he changed into the enterprise
of an wellknown industrial and there made his first expeirienses
with the bussisness of metals. Nine years after his emigration
to Saint Petersburg he married and foundet his own enterprise.
First he built mostly metal covers for fireplaces and bathtubs.

During the first years in
spite of all efforts he didn´t make much money; but even
now he let his yougest brother Robert San Galli follow him (the
doughter of that brother got my grand-grandmother, more (in German)
here).

Only since he had sold the
first low pressure water heating of russia to the Tzar and was
recommmendet by the imperial administration his enterprise grew
and got bigger and bigger; he built bridges, sold more to the
emperial court and declaired: "I ´m a mill owner in
Russia, known on the whole empire, and if they call the best
names, my name is spoken too." With him I´m related
by my grand-grand-grandfather, youngest brother of Franz - he
died no earlier than 1920 after the Revolution, in exteme misery.

Franz had let come three of
his brothers, two of them went to america and married there,
ome of them died there too, one in Coburg. Only my ancestor Robert
San Galli stayed and helped for the rest of his life, mostly
at economic problems. More then that, he worked in the management
of other big firms too, like several insurances.

Off cause there were real
differences in the lives of the brothers. While Franz got a politician
too since 1872 and until the abolician of the voting in three
income classes in Russia became a very successfull leader of
a political party, Robert as I understood took over work also
in other enterprises and as an epert for the Russian state only
in the 90s of the 19th century.

The dwelling-house seen
from the park.

At the back an iron door
and the Ligovskij (Ligovsky)
Prospekt.

Obviously
the backside of the San Galli estate too.

Like we all know, money doesn´t
smell too bad. Franz San Gallis doughter Maria 1901 married Ludolf
v. Boetticher (German nobility); by her I´m related to
some members of the family v. Bismarck. Also todays inhabitants
of St. Petersburg are proud of him, and one of them wrote into
the web:

After ca. 500 m from the Moscow
trainstaition along the Ligovskij Prospekt in direction of Obvodnyj
(Obvodny) chanel you´ll reach an oppulent neo-renaissance-palazzo
on the left of the street, the palais San Galli. On the right
of it you find the garden San Galli (in russian language Sad
San Galli, in careless local slang its name became changed to
Sengalievskij Sad hard to understand. Today this garden is a
public park. It has a bad reputation as the most evil meeting
place of the St. Petersburg drug addicted. That is simply like
it is called often by the people of St. Petersburg.

Franz San Galli had become
wollknown for the production of fences, balconys and doors with
a artisticly shape. He alsoproduced metal parts for bridges,
docks of the marine und pumps for the supply of St. Petersburg.
The area is known as Ligovka and a bit similar with Berlin Kreuzberg
or Soho. By the turn from 19. to 20. century it was known for
its firm reputation of bitter poverty, drinking and selling stolen
goods there. Not only at night it was quite dangerous. Franz
San Galli and his factory were a big exeption. "Ligovskaya
blyad" (Ligovka-whore) got a firm term in Russian. And "What,
cou´re comin from Ligovka?" means aproximately: "But
you´re doing well?"

On the other side it is easy
from Ligovka with its central position to reach the winter palace
as well as Moscow or Paris, because train stations and the international
airport of St. Petersburgs are not too far from here.

In the course of his career
Franz San Galli had won exelent relations to the family of the
tsar. I´ve heard that my grandfather Otto Gruner (son of
Adele * San Galli) played with the russian princes too when during
hollidays as usual he had come from Berlin to visit his relatives
in St. Petersburg.

Source of some of the pictures
and informations here was http://www.photofora.com/eugene/ligovka/sangalli/pages/sangalli.htm
. Here and on http://sangalli.photofora.com/andreasgruner.htm
I read that my own grand-grand-grandfather was a man of some
importance too: Robert San Galli from St. Petersburg was an imperial
state councilor and an active businessman seating on different
corporate boards and managing several important companies. His
business interests ranged from engines to insurance and from
building supplies to the manufacture of confectionary products.

Franz San Galli told to his
doughter about him: "My faithfull brother has moved the
burdons of bussiness with me all of his live and will leave no
more for his descendents than you have right at this moment."

Very soon you will be able
to read much more in a russian book (translated): Franz San Galli,
the man and his enterprise, by Vitalij Smyschljajew, St. Petersburg,
smishlyaev@mail.ru . He understands Russian and German.

At least to the death of my
grandfather Otto Gruner 1932 the families Gruner and San Galli
had good contact with each other. This got only clear to me after
I head begun with my researching. Adele and her children regularily
visited St. Petersburg. I was told that my grandfather there
played with the children of the Czar.

On the picture right you
see Adele with her brother Otto San Galli, his wife and children.
I beliefe in front Irene, whom 1993 I still met in Paris - naturally
an old lady by that time - and that told me about her relatives
of the family Gruner. I will report you next about that.

Behind her her doughter
Elsa Gruner.

My grandfather Otto Gruner

visiting the homeland of
his mother, I think aproximately 1907.

Now I get to what Irene Fardet
(the child in the middle in the picure above) wrote to me 1992
from Paris:

I used to see my aunt Adele
(Gruner, * San Galli) during holidays in Russia; she was married
with a German (Didn´t he be a minister of state? …
I believe our waiting girls called him like that; they wanted
to say that he was somebody very important [Indeed my grand-grandfather
Ernst Gruner was an important person, having participated founding
and as president of the German office for the supervision of
insecurances]. By 1930 she visited us in Paris. I believe, that
the family Gruner was very rich.

Elsa, my cousin (doughter
of Adele and Otto Gruner) allways was in St. Petersburg during
hollidays. A bautyfull young girl who was not interested in us
little children. Later for a long time she lived together with
a very rich man, without being married. You couldn´t do
thinks like that in those days! She had to marry … I don´t
know no more .

The beloved Erich
Gruner

Otto (Gruner), Your (my) grandfather;
godchild of my father Otto San Galli. I dont remember him no
more. About 1924 my father visited the family Gruner in Berlin.
That plain crash really was a drama! Not only, because he died
(1932) so young, already a wellknown lawyer, but also he was
about to get divorced by your grandmother, to marry the young
gouvernante. The young, seduced? girl… that drama did shock
us.

Erich, the youngest son of
Adele (and Ernst Gruner), who even played with us! My loved sister
and me adored him. He sent us post cards. He was killed right
at the beginning of war 1914 at the russian front. We little
girls mourned our cousin and kept his postcards that got finally
totally wrinkled for a long time.

Ernie? Im no more sure about
his first name, probably Ernst. He came to us to Paris. Spoke
long evenings with my mother in German language about the past
(she had come 1925). Me young girl visited the castle of Versailles
with him.

This is the result of my
genealogical work on my Sangalli / San Galli ancestors by now
translated in English. It was me who put all this thogether.
I´ve searched in the family and got documents from people
who had same ancestors 150 years ago. I´ve been in contact
with people from from Poland, Russia, France, Italy, and even
the USA. Surely I was in Pavia.

Anybody knows more? This
is what I´ve put together from several sources. Of course
my English is not perfect. The German original of this site may be more exact. You want to help?
Especially find out more in Pavia or Szczecin? Please contact
gruner@a-gr.net . Thank you.